Basiliek van het Heilig Hart

The Basiliek van het Heilig Hart stands in Berchem, Antwerp, as a neo-Gothic church built between 1875 and 1878. Joseph Van Riel and Jules Bilmeyer designed the church and its adjoining convent. In 1878, the church became a basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart. It is regarded as the first basilica in the world with that dedication.

The protected complex includes the church, convent, and a large garden enclosed by walls. Brick and sandstone walls stand beneath slate roofs, with buttresses, lancet windows, oculi, and a central bell tower. Its unusual seven-twelfths apse recalls the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Inside, the single nave opens beneath ribbed vaults and pointed arches on decorated hardstone columns. Three devotional areas serve the sanctuary, the sisters’ oratory, and the public oratory.

A sculpted tympanum above the portal shows Christ revealing his Sacred Heart. Original polychrome paintings present symbolic motifs, saints, angels, and portraits across the interior. Neo-Gothic furnishings include an altar, tabernacle, ciborium, candlesticks, and monstrance. Stained-glass windows and four cherub statues add further detail around the altar. The convent, built between 1879 and 1889, forms a nearly symmetrical neo-Gothic complex. A corner tower carries a statue of the Mother of God, while brick arcades bring colour to the façades. The basilica, convent, and garden belong to Antwerp’s protected architectural heritage.